OCEAN TOWNSHIP – When the defense stifles a potential first inning outburst, you would expect the offense to match that effort on the field.

That was the case for the Brick Little League 12-year-old All-Stars on Saturday afternoon in game 1 of this year’s Section 3 Tournament against Ocean Township Little League.

Ocean Township got a leadoff single by Nick Case but two defensive plays at third base by Brick’s Logan Semevolos, which caused a fielder’s choice out at second base each time, gave Brick the momentum to win the game on offense.

With five runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, Brick broke open a tie game for an impressive 8-3 win over Ocean at Ocean Township Little League, the site of this year’s Section 3 Tournament.

“We tell them to be alert and be attentive on every pitch because you never know where the ball is going to be hit to (on the field). First, Logan Semevolos made two fantastic plays and it could have been a big inning. We got the force outs at second base and that kind of set the tone for the game” Brick Manager Tom Tiernan said. “We pride ourselves on our defense and that’s what we talk about in little league. It is a 6-inning game and it is 18 outs. There isn’t a lot of room for error. You limit the errors in little league, you certainly have a better chance to win.”

And that’s what Brick did after building a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning but only to see Ocean rally with three runs in the top of the third inning to make it anyone’s game after two and one-half innings.

Ocean’s Matt King walked with the bases loaded and Justin Cook and Dylan Lazar each had RBI-singles to even the game at 3-3.

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Brick Twp takes on Ocean Twp. in the Section 3 Little League on 7/14/2018.(Photo: Larry Murphy | For The Asbury Park Press)

In that bottom of the fifth inning, Brick’s Jacob Toye walked with one out and Liam Dolan reached first base on an error by Ocean Township allowing a run to score. Cole Cook-Benson then had an RBI-single and that extended Brick’s lead to 5-3 after five innings.

First, Logan Semevolos was intentionally walked for the second straight plate appearance and he reached first base for the third straight time after being hit by a pitch in the bottom of the second inning.

Second, Jack Tiernan walked with the bases loaded, which forced in another run.

Finally, Dave Yorke blasted a shot that bounced over the center field fence for a ground-rule double and that brought in the final two runs of the inning.

“We’re a team. If one guy is not going to come through because he’s getting walked, we talk about the next guy up all the time. It is always the next guy up (mentality),” Tiernan said. “We try to make it hurt (the other team). We tell the guy hitting in back of him to make it hurt. So far, they have and it is good to see.”

That offensive outburst backed up a stellar pitching performance by Jack Tiernan, who tossed an 86-pitch, complete game seven-hitter in which he struck out five batters and walked one. Tiernan didn’t allow a hit after the third inning and only had two base runners from the third inning through the sixth inning via a walk (in the third inning) and via an error (in the sixth inning).

“There are a couple ways you can do it. And I have to be honest, I was flip-flopping all week. But you go into these games and you aren’t guaranteed games. You are guaranteed two games. So if you lose the first one, then you are really in trouble,” Tiernan said. “So, the way that I looked at it is, we were going to pitch our good pitchers pretty much (as long as) they can take us. And that’s what Jack did today. He gave us the whole game.”

Middletown 5, Lawrence 4: James Finer had a sacrifice fly in the first inning, Timmy Naughton added a two-run double in the third inning and Middletown added its other two runs via errors to hold off Lawrence in game 2 of the Section 3 tournament. Finer, Middletown’s starter, went five innings before reaching his mandated pitching limit of 85 pitches for the day and he had nine strikeouts and three walks. Reid Tully came on in the sixth inning in relief and picked up the save despite walking the first batter of inning. Lawrence made a tactical mistake by batting out of order, which led to the first out of the inning and then Tully got the last two outs of the inning via strikeouts. Middletown had built a 5-0 lead through two and one-half innings before Lawrence’s Robert Kelly launched a grand slam to center field to cut the deficit to one run.